Paris Draw Preview: Zverev Leads Push For Remaining London Spots

With two qualifying spots remaining for the season-ending Nitto ATP Finals, the Rolex Paris Masters will determine who packs their bags for The O2 in London from 10-17 November. Ten players are still in contention, including German Alexander Zverev, Italian Matteo Berrettini and Spaniard Roberto Bautista Agut, but they’ll need to weather challenging draws at the last ATP Masters 1000 event of the season.

Zverev, seeded sixth, is in good standing to give himself a chance to defend his title in London. He’s currently in seventh place in the ATP Race to London with 2,855 points, but will need to be in top form in Paris as he starts against Croatian Borna Coric or Spaniard Fernando Verdasco. Zverev shares the same quarter of the draw as third-seeded Swiss Roger Federer and a pair of London hopefuls, No. 11 seed Fabio Fognini of Italy and No. 13 seed Gael Monfils of France. Monfils is tenth in the Race with 2,350 points.

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Tenth-seeded Berrettini has a heathy grip on eighth place in the Race with 2,660 points. The Italian arguably has the most challenging draw of any player in Paris, though. He’ll begin against home favourite Jo-Wilfried Tsonga or in-form Russian Andrey Rublev, then could face eighth-seeded Russian and defending champion Karen Khachanov in the third round. Should he escape that treacherous section, a potential quarter-final clash awaits with second-seeded Spaniard Rafael Nadal.

Ninth seed Roberto Bautista Agut, currently ninth in the Race (2,530), also seeks a big week in Paris and will open against #NextGenATP Aussie Alex de Minaur or Serbian Laslo Djere. The Spaniard is in the same quarter of the draw as top seed Novak Djokovic, seventh-seeded Greek Stefanos Tsitsipas and fellow London hopeful Diego Schwartzman. The Argentine is 14th in the Race with 2,040 points.

Belgian David Goffin is 11th in the Race with 2,325 points. The No. 13 seed will need to reach at least the semi-finals in Paris if he wants to return to The O2. His week begins against Bulgarian Grigor Dimitrov or #NextGenATP Aussie Ugo Humbert, with fourth-seeded Russian Daniil Medvedev and fifth-seeded Austrian Dominic Thiem also looming in his quarter.

Swiss Stan Wawrinka, American John Isner and Khachanov must take the title in Paris in order to have a chance at qualifying for London. Isner returns to action for the first time since the birth of his second child last week.

Read More: Isner Welcomes Second Child

Djokovic, seeking his fifth title in Paris, opens against Frenchman Richard Gasquet or fellow Serbian Dusan Lajovic. The World No. 1 holds a 32-8 record at this event and has reached the championship match in four of his past five appearances.

Nadal is back in action against a qualifier or Frenchman Adrian Mannarino, then could renew his rivalry with Wawrinka in the third round. Although Nadal leads their FedEx ATP Head2Head series 18-3, Wawrinka’s last win over the Spaniard came four years ago in the Paris quarter-finals.

We could have @rogerfederer versus @RafaelNadal semi-final in Paris ?

Projected quarters (by seeding) for the @RolexPMasters ? pic.twitter.com/mFOLIWv5b1

— ATP Tour (@atptour) October 25, 2019

Federer looks for his first title in Paris since 2011. The Swiss plays play Georgian Nikoloz Basilashvili or Moldovan Radu Albot in his opening match and shares the same half of the draw as Nadal. The pair have never faced off at this event.

Medvedev aims to continue his winning ways as he begins his campaign against a qualifier or Argentine Guido Pella. The Russian, who captured his second Masters 1000 title this month at the Rolex Shanghai Masters (d. Zverev), is on a nine-match winning streak and has reached the final of his past six ATP Tour events.